Picture it - you're digging for a holiday shopping season news hook for a line of educational toys competing against action-packed video games and the hot newfangled toys that lend themselves to media hype. A press release just won't cut it, so how do you give your PR a jolt and keep brand recognition on the rise?
For VTech Industries, LLC, the solution was all about personality. VTech gave life to its electronic learning line with a spokesperson a mother could like: child development expert and educator Dr. Loretta Long, aka Susan of "Sesame Street" fame.
"There wasn't necessarily any hard data, but we had comments from customers that we spoke with that our educational toys weren't known as a fun brand - a brand with personality," said Maureen Penn, marcom manager for the Wheeling, Ill.-based subsidiary which had $158 million in sales at the end of FY 1998 (March 31).
The U.S. division of Hong Kong-based VTech Holdings Limited accounts for about one-fifth of the parent company's $800 million in sales.
VTech's cast of educational toys are unique because of variables such as buttons which introduce letters and shapes, parental volume controls, word testing and counting mechanisms and computer-reinforcement-skill components.
Its electronic learning products provide cognitive stimulation with visual and sound features and are sold in stores such as Target for a wide span of age groups, from infants to elementary school-aged kids. The toys are competing in a more than $22-billion toy market, coming up against giants such as Tiger Electronics, purveyor of the popular Furby.
But equipped with messages about the benefits of educational toys, Long ended up being interviewed on 19 TV stations, 20 radio stations and by five print outlets between September and December.
Stories surfaced after media stops in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Detroit, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., all prime media markets, according to Dani Kolben and Daisy Okas, Shandwick account reps. Shandwick managed the project.
Vtech's brand personality campaign was propelled by market research (conducted by outside firm McCollum Spielman Worldwide, Great Neck, N.Y.) showing that its brand awareness had flattened at 78 percent (based on polling done in two consecutive Januarys to gauge 1996 and 1997 customer familiarity).
Initial results based on this year's January polling, however, shows that VTech brand awareness has jumped five points to about 83 percent. Since its percentage hadn't moved for several years, execs are heralding the jump as more than healthy as a result of the campaign.
Market research is based on surveys conducted in shopping malls across the U.S. by MCW for VTech each year.
'Have I Got A Story For You'
To generate press coverage for the brand boost, Shandwick's New York office turned to regional media relations. Generally, toy companies have to count on annual events such as Toy Fair to provide a brand windfall, but Shandwick found another PR cache.
Shandwick's five-person account team put together a campaign that re-energized the VTech name, in part through the help of a media tour in Q4 when about 70 percent of the company's sales are traditionally made. The cost for the media tour - approximately $100,000.
During the PR push, for instance, Shandwick didn't pitch Little Smart Mouse Play as a $34.99 colorful device to acclimate preschoolers to a PC mouse. Instead, the toy was a hook to promote the advantages of educational toys, a pitch with a more noble than commercial ring.
But Shandwick knew the media was too savvy to fall for that line from a PR representative.
So part two of Shandwick's one-two punch was to introduce Long. In addition to her work on Sesame Street, her credentials include authoring "Courtney's Birthday Party," earning a doctorate in education from the University of Massachusetts and earning the spotlight as a child development advocate parents respect.
As a paid celebrity spokesperson (VTech won't reveal how much she gets paid), Long provides the clout VTech needs to increase awareness about the company's 80 products, many reminiscent of the speak-and-spell learning aids of yesteryear.
VTech corralled a total of 300 million impressions during 1998. About 12.5 million of those are attributable to the 11-city tour that landed VTech in the media limelight at the critical time when parents prepare their holiday shopping lists. One particular coup was Long's appearance on "Good Morning Dallas" which requested Long return for another segment.
Shandwick's campaign review revealed it more than exceeded its goal, which was to cement several interviews in each market. (Shandwick, 212/686-6666; VTech, 847/215-9700)
VTech Industries
Headquarters: Wheeling, Ill.
1998 Sales: $158 million
Number of employees: 70
Years in Electronic Learning Products Business: Nearly 20
Web Site: http://www.vtech.com
Shandwick New York
Founded: 1974
1998 Billings: $8.5 million
Number of employees: 120
Clients: Kodak, KPMG Peat Marwick
Web Site: http://www.shandwick.com
Spokesperson Search
Shandwick and VTech began searching for a spokesperson in January 1998 and spent about six months networking, getting referrals and doing Internet research. A favorite resource was the AEI Speakers Bureau (http://www.world.std.com) which includes hundreds of profiles on available speakers - and that's where Dr. Loretta Long's name surfaced.